The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-06-12
To Prevent Legislative and Municipal
Corruption.

It has not escaped observation that Con-
gress seems to BIO less corruptib!e than the
State Legislatures. Corrupt influences have
less weight in Washington than in Albany.
Harrisburg. Trenton, or perhaps any other
State capital that might be mentioned
Reasoning from this circumstance. many
men have found an argument III favor Of
GENERALIZATION. If Congress is less corrupt,
lts purity. they think, must be due to the
greater dignity Of n national legislature,
and therefore 1t might safely be trusted with
enlarged powers. But those who reason in
this manner entirely mlsconceive the cause
of tho comparative innocence OF Congress.
1t Is not due either to the superior character
OF the men who are sent to Congress, or to
the self.rcspeot inspired by position Of
large responsibility. It Is due simply tn the
comparative absence Of opportunities for
corrupt deals. and the situation Offers the
strongest possible argument against the
Capitalization of power.
Congress, it will DO remembered, camc very
near losing its good character while the Pa
cific railways were under construction.
Those roads enabled our national legisla-
ture, for the first timo In It's history, to con-
troll largo property interests on terms that
could be turned to the personal emolumcnt
Of members, and that IL good deal o. fine
work WAS done while tho opportunity lasted
is moro than suspected. The statesman
from Massachusetts was probably not tho
only man who learned to put his resources
where they would do the most good; and no
would not have been the last men either had
not tho public domain under the control of
Congress soon dwindlcd to such proportions
that it WAS 10 longer an object OF very in
tense pursuit. We're tho national legislature
endowed with any considerable control over
the franchises now derived from tho States,
and regulated exclusively by State laws,
We should soon soc corruption enough in
Washington 10 satisfy convict Alderman ut
Sing Sing.
1t ~ entirely safe 70 assume that the high
character generally maintained by Congress
is duo to tho decen,rnlizing provisions OF the
Federal Constitution, and from this salts
factory result Of II wise system it will BIO very
easy to draw n conclusion. Capitalization
has much broader meaning than We give it
In our political ritual. Rights that belong
to the people may be usurped by the States
with even greater facility than the powers
by the Federal authority; and every act of
encroachment will put in tho hand of Leg
lslatures new opportunities for corruption.
This Is demonstrate truth. Tho proof Is
furnished from every State Capitol every win
ter. Men who have money will buy the rights
to which they have a constitutional claim,
but which wo permit corrupt men to lind
profit in withholding, They will buy
also privileges and immunitieS to which
they have 10 claim, either const!tutionally
or morally. II you allow legislative chambers
and committee rooms to DO made marts for
the sale OF franchises. Dut that is precisely
what we are not only permitting, but en-
couraSlng. Without tine least Justification
In necessity, the people OF this country, or q
majority Of the people, have become clamor-
Gus, ducini; the last fa@ yc2rs, for the cxcr-
else OF stronger legislative functions. II
seems To hr,rn been entirely forgotten that
our who.E system Of GOV, tnincnt rrGts' on
the idoa Of self-cont!pl, GnI that restraint Is
only Ia be exercised for tho suppression OF
the crimirally disposed pnd TIE Vicious. We
Ignore this fundamental republican idea; ,
and instead OF conducting tho affairs OF gov
eminent over the limited lines which such
an Interpretation OF It's functions makes i'm
perative, we are continually lodging more
and more power In the hands OF legislative
and municipal bodies, and permitting legis-
lation to DO conducted on theories that are
entirely despotic. or course We shall have in
creased corruption II wo oAer increased OPP
portunltles for corruption.
II we are to see a restoration OF the for
mer standards Of public integrity we must
recover our lost ground. We must return to
the ideas which once made large measure
o. corruption impossible. and restrict both
laafslakiye and munieipal authority. This